Weekends at the Coliseum

John Grayson and I have had the pleasure of visiting the Richmond Coliseum, not once, but twice, in the past two weeks. Last weekend John Grayson's Grandma and Grandpa Schmitt were in town to visit he and his sister. I would say there were here to see Allison and I as well, but that would be a lie. On a spur of the moment decision we decided to get tickets to see the Greatest Show on Earth on Saturday afternoon.

This verison of Ringling Bros. show was called Zing, Zang, Zoom! It was a bit more musical than I remembered the circus to be, but it entertained the boy quite a bit. Of course they started out with the clowns...

And of course the lion cage was a highlight as well. JGray did great tiger 'ROAR's for us.


One relatively new experience for John Grayson was popcorn. He spent the majority of the time there like this, picking popcorn pieces out of his mouth. If you ask him though, popcorn was one of the highlights of the show.
I was informed by his mother afterwards that popcorn is a choking hazard, so maybe it wasn't such a great idea. Anyhow, the circus was an absolute success. It was great to have such a fun memory with his grandparents in town!

The following week it was SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! THUNDER NATIONALS at the Richmond Coliseum. John Grayson has been a big fan of Monster Trucks for quite a few months now, so when I saw they were coming I picked up the tickets the first day they were out. Where that landed us (John Grayson, Pop, and I) was first row, right in front of of the cars that they crush. The monster trucks were very loud, so we had to ensure that we all had the right ear protection.
For those of you who have not been, the star of the show is Gravedigger, who also happens to be John Grayson's favorite monster truck. There is an actual competition between the monster trucks, and Gravedigger won. I think it is a Harlem Globetrotters type of thing, because I don't think the other trucks ever had a chance.

Of course there is only so much that you can do with Monster Trucks in the space of an ice rink, so the filled the intermissions with things like these motorcycle riders doing some sweet jumps off of ramps.

Don't tell mom, but once again we cound't pass up the popcorn.
During the last 'Freestyle' portion of the competition, we did get to witness one of the trucks flip itself over. It took about 20 minutes for them to get the thing back flipped over. Based on the fact that they had a crane ready and waiting, it must not be an odd occurance.

All in all, they were two quite successful trips to some spectacular entertainment. The next big event coming to the Coliseum is the reunited 'New Kids on the Block' tour. I think we might have to break our streak there.